Mitt: 'I'm not a Wall Street guy, classically defined'

[WI_DEM]

"I am not going to be the technical divider of what's Wall Street or not. Wall Street is typically thought of as investment banking and banking and we were not an investment bank or a bank. But we were in the financial services sector generally," Romney said. "I am not a Wall Street guy, classically defined, but I am not going to quibble over definitions."

And then Romney proceeded to quibble away:

"I can tell you that I have run four different enterprises in my life. One was a consulting firm, one was a private equity and venture capital firm, one was an Olympics, and the other was a state. And my track record in those places speaks for itself," he said.

www.dailykos.com

[marmar]

1. Has this man ever given a straight answer to a question?

nt

[fascisthunter]

2. no? He's another Sociopathic Republican Liar

they lie, lie, lie, lie... congrats you fucking morons,. You means to an end is killing our country with distortions and lies. Once again, proving you are self-centered dangerous fuck-heads!

[MichiganVote]

3. Yeah that'll earn him some points in the hollows of Kentucky.

What an absolute jerk. And while we're at it, Wall street is NOT investment banking.

[Enrique]

4. look up "Wall Street Guy" in the dictionary

they'll have this picture

[unblock]

5. a very politically stupid thing for him to say, but on narrow technical grounds, i agree with him.

stupid because no one cares about the technical distinction between what the financial sector considers "wall street" versus what the financial sector considers "financial services", and trying to point that out merely invites everyone to note how much we don't care about that distinction when it comes to politicians.


part of the problem is that there are many definitions of "wall street". most all-encompassing, the entire business community can be considered "wall street" as in the concept of "main street vs. wall street".

slightly more narrowly, all the boardrooms across america, along with all the corporate, financial, and investment services they utilize, are sometimes considered "wall street", as in conflicts between workers and wall street.

more narrowly still, and of particular importance to politics, the entire financial sector is often considered wall street.

within the financial sector itself, a distinction is made between investment banking and the creations and trading of securities as "wall street" vs. everything else, which is considered "financial services". in that narrow interpretation, romney is correct that what he did wouldn't be considered "wall street". however, this is a geeky definition for financial professionals, not the politically relevant defintion, which does include what he did.